


Midnight lights

by myotishia



Series: Thin ice [5]
Category: Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-15 06:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20862074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: After an eventful weekend the team return to work only to find they may have missed something big coming from the rift.





	1. Midnight train

**Author's Note:**

> New reader? Start right [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18551278)

Midnight on a Saturday going into Sunday was not the best time to be stuck travelling. Cardiff central railway station was desolate due to the time and Ryan, even being built like a proverbial shed, was feeling nervous all alone on the platform. He’d been stuck helping his aunt with rewiring her new house and one job had become five, five had become ten and then it was too late to get the bus and his aunt hadn’t driven in twenty years. Getting a taxi would be too expensive so he hoped he could hop on the train and get off before anyone checked for a ticket. The rumbling sound of a train arriving made him feel so much better, a chance to get home and sleep in his own bed. The train itself looked like it should have been retired decades ago and it lacked the usual company paintwork across the sides. What it did have was people so it had to be active. It was good enough. He stepped into the first car and grabbed a seat, dropping his toolbox on the seat next to him. It would be a quiet ride so he took his phone from his pocket to browse twitter but he had no signal. Great. This would be a boring trip too. 

The train jolted as it began to move. Ryan lent his head back, just wanting to decompress and try not to think about the walk from the station to home. A sharp pain shot through the back of his skull and he found that he couldn’t move. 

“Help me! … Fuck, someone call an ambulance! Please.... Hello? Are any of you listening to me?!” He cried out in desperation. He could still move his eyes and looked to the nearest set of occupied seats. The man sitting there looked wrong, too still, too pail. Still the train rumbled along. Outside the window the landscape looked like a black void. 

Tosh awoke in the morning, her head pounding and stomach churning. The team had gone out for a drink the night before, she remembered that much but anything else was lost in a bit of a haze. She reached for the glass of water that had been left on the nightstand and took a few sips. 

Owen grumbled back in the world of the living and wishing he wasn’t. His alcohol tolerance had dropped significantly so the hangover felt so much worse than he’d expected. He pulled the duvet up over his head to block out the dim light of the room that felt like it was actively clawing into his brain. It was only then he realised he was still dressed, having only managed to take off his boots before bed. Tosh laughed softly seeing a tee shirt and a pair of jeans being thrown from a bundle of duvet. Tosh pulled her blouse off from the night before as she dragged herself to the shower. Under her sleeve was an intricately drawn design made up of hearts drawn in pink sharpie that wrapped around her forearm. She vaguely remembered drawing it and Owen connecting the lines where she couldn’t reach. She guessed it had been Jack that had given her the sharpie as he was usually the one to encourage her silliness when she was drunk, on the rare occasion it happened. The hot water helped ease the pain in her head and clear her mind. She remembered being carried on Elises back to the car, giggling as Eli made neighing sounds. Elise didn’t need to drink to join in with their nonsense. 

Ianto stirred, half opening an eye and realising he’d gotten home somehow. He remembered his first few drinks and actually relaxing enough to ignore his usual anxiety. He knew he shouldn’t have been drinking with the medication he was on as it had the strange side effect of amplifying the effect of alcohol. Reaching out he pulled the bedside clock over to read it, the red digits looking like the heart of a raging fire. Ten thirty two. It was Sunday so it didn’t necessarily matter but it knocked off his usual routine. He placed the clock back and sat up, rubbing his dry eyes. 

“Good morning.” A warm voice came from the doorway. Jack stood, dressed in only his trousers from the night before, holding a tray with breakfast on top. 

Ianto smiled. “I have no idea what happened last night.”

Jack sat on the edge of the bed and handed over the tray. “I do and I think Gwen and Elise both have footage.”

“Oh god.” 

“Who knew that you and Owen would be the best of friends a couple of bottles in.”

“Oh god.”

“I love your singing voice by the way.” He grinned.

Ianto hid his face in his hands. “Oh god. Please tell me you’re winding me up.”

“Nope. If it helps I don’t think Owen or Tosh will remember anything by this morning.”

“I didn’t embarrass myself too much did I?”

“Not too much. I did have to convince you not to go swimming at around eleven though. If you’d been sober I would have been right there with you.”

“Thank you.”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long time. I suggested we just hop in the shower but apparently that was ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I made breakfast.”

Ianto took the glass of orange juice from the tray and glugged down half of it. “Still ridiculous. I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”

“It was nice to see you sleeping.” Jack said, as if he hadn’t been very worried since the incident with the tardis two weeks before. Ianto had been getting four or five hours of sleep a night since and even if he wasn’t feeling the draining effects of it Jack was sure it wasn’t healthy. 

“I’m fine. If I was tired I would already have asked Owen about it.”

“If you’re not going to then I will. Your circadian rhythm shouldn’t just change like that.”

“Will it make you feel better if I do?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. When we have a free moment at work I’ll bring it up. Now, are you joining me for breakfast?”

“I ate a couple of hours ago.”

He looked down at the full tray. “Are you trying to fatten me up?”

“No.” He flopped back over Iantos legs and reached out to stroke his side. “You have lost weight though.”

“It’s summer. I don’t get as hungry when it’s so warm. That and I’ve been trying to keep up with you.”

Jack gave a smug smile.

A quiet Sunday passed and as the clock ticked on it struck midnight. As if on cue an outdated looking train pulled into Cardiff central, almost beckoning a small group of teenagers inside. They’d been celebrating one of the girls nineteenth birthday and were ready to get home. They all rushed onto the second car as it looked mostly empty.

“Go and get seats. I’m just going to pop to the loo.” The birthday girl, Angelica, said as she headed to the back of the car. The door said it was occupied and after waiting uncomfortably for a while she decided to just wait until she got to her station. At this time of night she guessed someone was probably shooting up in there and that wasn’t something she wanted to get involved with. Turning back something felt off. Her friends had never been the quietest group but they couldn’t be heard. Maybe they’d moved to the next car. Walking past the door she could see her boyfriends sleeve, his arm on the arm rest.

“Terry, why are you all so quiet?” She asked leaning over his seat. He didn’t move. “Terry?” She moved to look him in the face and saw tears running down his cheeks. He let out a whimper.

“M-my head.” He sputtered out. She reached round to the back of his head, her fingers coming away wet. 

“Oh my god! Terry, you’re bleeding. What happened? Guys?” She looked around to see the rest of the group sat bolt upright in their seats.

Ginny, her best friend of twelve years, looked her in the eye. “Run. Get help.” 

Angelica staggered back, in a state of panic she ran to the doors. She just needed to get out and find help. The windows had become opaque so she had no idea how fast they were going but all she knew was that she needed to get out of the train. The open button didn’t work, none of the buttons did. She dug her fingers in between the doors and tried to pry them open, slipping and snapping a nail. The lights above her head began to flicker and changed to a deep red. Fighting through the pain in her fingers she dug them back between the doors and wrenched them open. The cold wind hit her in the face and she held on until they passed a telephone pole before throwing herself out, trying to stay limp and roll when she landed. She hit the grassy embankment hard, skidding and rolling until she finally stopped. She let out a deafening scream and the houses not too far from the tracks were illuminated. People awoken by her shrieking pulled on dressing gowns and shoes before venturing out. 

“Nineteen year old girl, found with both legs broken on the embankment next to the railway tracks screaming about a train killing her friends.” Gwen clarified as she walked through the halls of the hospital.

Owen sighed. “That’s the report we got. I’ve seen the x rays and the poor girl’s going to be more metal than bone by the time she’s out of here. She said she jumped off a moving train so she’s lucky to be alive at all. Here we are. I’ll let you do the talking.”

Gwen opened the door to the mid sized room. The girl in the bed was wired up to monitors and her legs, though covered, were clearly in bad shape. One of her arms was in a cast and she was covered in smaller cuts and abrasions.

“Angelica?” Gwen asked softly.

The girl glanced over. “Yea?”

“I’m Gwen Cooper and this is Dr Owen Harper. We’ve come to talk to you about what happened last night.” She pulled over a chair and tried to make herself look as approachable as possible. Owen was fine looking awkward in the corner after nodding a greeting.

“You won’t believe me. The police didn’t.” Angelica said, her lip quivering. 

“We deal with things that they don’t have any experience with. I promise, we’ll hear you out.”

“I… It was my birthday… We all went out. Me and my friends. We just wanted to go home so we went to get the train. It was old looking but it was a train. It was on the tracks so what were we meant to think?” She was getting more and more agitated. 

“It’s ok. Take your time.” Gwen soothed, knowing how fragile this woman must be.

After a few breaths and a moment to calm herself a little, Angelica continued. “We got on and they went to get seats. I was going to use the bathroom but it was occupied and when I got back… It was so quiet… Terry was crying. He never cries. He said his head hurt and… He was bleeding. The back of his head was bleeding... They didn’t move, none of them. Like they couldn’t. Ginny told me to run and get help… I just wanted to go home.” She sniffed, barely holding back tears. “None of the buttons were real. The lights started flicking on and off. It was like it was haunted. The light went red and I got the door open. They’re dead. I know they are.” 

Gwen shot a glance to Owen who shrugged slightly, saying he had no idea what it could have been. 

“Ok. You’re doing great. Is there anything else you can tell us about this train?”

“It came right at midnight. I remember coz I said it was spooky, you know?... It looked like there were other passengers on there but I didn’t see any staff… Do you think they’ll be found? Terry has a little brother he cares for and he’s just with a babysitter.”

“We’ll do our best, you just need to concentrate on your recovery, ok?”

“Something large came through the rift at ten thirty on Saturday night. I thought it was a false positive as nothing showed up on any of my other sensors but now I’m not so sure.” Said Tosh, flicking between windows on her screen. 

Elise lent back in her chair. “How could something that big just pass over the rest of the sensors?”

“I’m not sure. Some kinds of shapeshifters can, but only if they can perfectly mimic something close by as soon as they emerge. And then there’s… No.”

“No no, come on. What were you thinking?” She shook her hand as she caught her finger on a sharp piece of metal on her arm that she hadn’t fully filed yet.

“Well, we had one years ago that could create an electromagnetic pulse that temporarily froze all of my instruments to cover its tracks but it wasn’t even close to this big.”

She held her finger in her mouth, an action that would have Owen telling her off but he wasn’t present so she could do as she wished. “Mm?”

“It disguised itself as a taxi to lure in its victims. Lymantiriens have three life stages, like butterflies. Only their caterpillar stage can shapeshift but it’s also the only stage that they can feed on meat.”

“Giant space caterpillars. Nice.”

“Not exactly space caterpillars. More accidentally displaced caterpillars.”

Elise took a small first aid kit from her desk draw and cleaned off the cut on her finger, wrapping a plaster around it. “What happens when it transforms into its later stage?”

“We caught it before it fully emerged from its chrysalis stage but, once Owen extracted it, it looked like a yellow and green butterfly but it was the size of a small aircraft. Let me find the photos for you.” 

She hopped up and wandered around to see Toshikos screen, showing a photograph of a being that looked similar to a chimaera birdwing butterfly but scaled up to a massive degree. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know. It’s a shame the microscopic hairs on its wings can be toxic if breathed in.”

“Ok, so say the big guy that’s just arrived is one of these… um…”

“Lymantiriens.”

“Yes, them. What kind of thing could that turn into?”

“Well, theoretically, if we’re going off the transformation of the one in the past… And if it’s the same subspecies… It would likely be the size of a large passenger jet.”

“Wow.”

“How’s the installation going?”

“Bit of a pain in the arse but nothing I can’t handle. I made the casing to be watertight and damn near bulletproof so to keep that and add the vortex manipulator is taking a while. I just have to file the sharp edges down, transfer the unit into its place and secure it. Then I just have to make a new leather wrist guard so I can use it in public without people seeing too much of the wrist itself. Oh, and Jack finally signed off on me installing a copy of our digital lockpick into my hand.”

“No turning yourself into a walking multi tool.”

“Aww come on, a sonic screwdriver always with us could be really useful. Any lock we can’t get through, just take the door off its hinges. It’s not like I’m trying to install repulsar blasters or anything.” 

She gave a confused look.

“Iron man?”

“Ah. And I’m happy about that. Imagine if it accidentally went off.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Exactly. Now go finish off before you cut yourself again.”

“How’d it go?” Asked Jack, who had been watching Elise install the lockpick into her hand with fascination, as Gwen and Owen returned.

Owen tossed his jacket onto his chair. “We have more missing people than we thought.”

“The train itself attacked them by what Angelica told us. It looked old when it turned up and there were no staff around.” Gwen said, frowning.

Jack looked over at Tosh. “Sounds like your theory might have been right.”

“Theory?”

“I was theorising what being could get past all of my sensors and I remembered the Lymantirien we dealt with years ago.” Tosh clarified.

Owen thought for a moment. “Which one was that?”

“The giant caterpillar that pretended to be a taxi.”

“Oh yea. That was small compared to this one.”

“Yes, but it could be a different subspecies. It had the same method of luring in victims. It means there’s a chance those who it’s already taken could still be alive.”

“If they are they’re not going to be easy to move.”

Gwen looked between them. “Why?”

“They feed by using a bone spike that they shoot into the body or head of their prey and slowly drink any fluid they can. If the spike hits the brain, spine or any of the major organs you have to separate the spike from the caterpillar before you can move the patient. It’s like being impaled on a metal fence that’s trying to eat you from the inside out.”

“Did the victim mention when this train appeared?” Asked Jack, perching on the edge of Elises desk.

Gwen nodded. “Exactly midnight.”

“Sounds like we’re going to be out late tonight. Tosh, we need the station completely locked down for tonight. I don’t want any real trains running through there past nine tonight.”

Eleven fifty five and Gwen sat down on a bench in the middle of platform one a take out cup of coffee between her cold hands. Cardiff still hadn’t recovered its warmth from its time as a dark, frozen, ghost town. Train platforms were one of those places that were technically protected from the elements but could never be artificially heated due to the tunnels being open. This meant that the stakeout was going to be a cold one. 

Elise yawned and lent back on the bench next to her colleague. “Fingers crossed we can get this done before one. I’m tired.”

“I think I’ve just gotten used to being up late.”

“Late is fine but Tosh and Owen haven’t been sleeping as much recently. They get maybe four hours a night and they’re fine. Course I don’t sleep well alone so it gets to now and I’m ready to clock out for the night.”

“I wonder why. I know they have late nights pretty often but not every night.”

“No idea. It’s like they’re just not tired.”

“Think Owen’s testing something new?”

“Not without telling me every detail. He gets excited about that kind of thing. Plus he would never pull Tosh into something he was testing.”

Gwen sipped her coffee. “Change of season?”

“Maybe. Ianto mentioned he’s not been sleeping as much either.” 

“Must be then. Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

“Yea. If I have coffee now I won’t sleep at all tonight.” Eli smiled. “Oh, by the way. Fancy coming shopping with me and Tosh at the weekend?”

“I don’t see why not. Anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“Mostly new bras. Sports bras are not always so kind to me.” She winced slightly and pulled her shirt away from her chest.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. Well, I got a couple of new piercings but I had a professional do that for me.”

Gwen let the words sink in for a moment before she almost snorted her coffee. “Wait! Did you get…?”

“Yea. I had them pierced when I was twenty one but I ended up taking them out. I kind of missed them.”

“Oh my god. Only you.” She laughed. “I’d be too embarrassed to get anything like that done.”

“If guys can walk around in summer without a shirt then why can’t ladies? I have no issue with anyone seeing my chest.”

“Ok, ok, so how did that go with you having to keep your arm covered?”

“Easy. I just wore a button up blouse and a really loose vest. The girl really liked my tattoo. Bless her, she was so worried that I’d pass out or something when she did it. Even after I told her I’d had it done before.”

“I can’t blame her.” Gwen sipped her coffee then looked up. “Do you hear that?”

Elise listened carefully. “Sounds like a train. I don’t see it.”

She tapped her earpiece. “We can hear a train, have any of you got a visual?”

Ianto felt uncomfortable being stuck with Owen as Jack had been teasing him about their drunken friendship. Owen, on the other hand, didn’t seem particularly bothered. He was just board. 

“So.” Ianto began. “Do you remember anything from Saturday night?”

“Hmm? A bit from the start of the night. I remember the bloody hangover the next morning, why?”

“Jack’s been acting like something embarrassing happened because he knows I can’t remember. I haven’t had time to as Elise or Gwen about it yet.”

“Whatever it was can’t have been that bad. I haven’t heard anything about it anyway. Jack’s just being a bit of a twat.”

“As long as that’s all.”

“Wait, why are you asking me?” He side eyed the man suspiciously. 

Ianto considered not saying anything but the chance to share his suffering had been practically gifted to him. “Apparently we were best friends and someone was singing.”

“Not likely.” Owen scoffed.

“And according to Jack there’s video footage of the night.”

“Who and why?”

“Gwen and Elise. And because they could use it for blackmail later? I don’t know.”

“Well, it can’t have been that bad. I woke up fully dressed the next morning. Did you bring coffee?”

“No, sorry. It’d be cold by now even in a good thermos. Tired?”

“No. I haven’t been going to sleep until two most mornings lately anyway.”

He looked at Owen, wide eyed. “Why?”

“Just haven’t been tired.” The doctor shrugged. “Why are you so interested?”

“I haven’t been sleeping either. I thought it was nothing but Jack’s been getting worried.”

He looked Ianto over. “Tosh isn’t sleeping as much either. I thought it was just us staying together… I’ll move up the date of the annual physicals. Make sure nothing’s up.”

“Don’t say anything to Jack about why. He’ll get worried.”

“He doesn’t need to know why unless something’s wrong. Don’t stress out about it, yea?”

Gwens voice rang over coms. “We can hear a train, have any of you got a visual?”

Owen hopped up, looking up and down the tracks before replying. “Nothing here.”

Jack looked relaxed, almost like he was enjoying the chilly night. He was sat on one of the benches, arms resting on the back as he watched Tosh pace back and forth, a scanner in her hand set to detect large life signs. 

“I don’t think we’ll be able to miss it when it turns up.” He commented. 

“It’s just an early warning system.”

“You’re going to walk a groove into the platform.”

She stopped and walked over to sit down. “It’s almost midnight.”

“There are worse places to be stuck at midnight.”

“I meant it should be here soon.”

He smiled softly. “I know… I saw you’d been looking at the death scythe.”

“I wanted to see if I could make a more workable version. The fact that it could cut through a cyberman meant it has incredible potential. Even as a quick escape method.”

“Yea? What did you find?”

She relaxed and her energy that was often kept for when she was playing with the computer system rose. “It’s actually very interesting. The blade itself doesn’t actually do any of the work. It’s more so you can tell where the cutting edge is meant to be. It’s actually closer to an energy weapon. It creates a shaped blade that separates material at an atomic level. That’s why the cuts are so clean. The heat left around the cuts is a side effect of the reaction. It’s controlled with a telepathic link which is how you can project the energy blades away from the scythe itself. Its exact strength and parts of its form depends on who is using it. When Elise holds it, it exudes a black aura that swirls like smoke. But when I hold it, its cutting edge glows blue and sparks run up over the blade.”

“Think you can use all that?”

“Of course I can.”

“Because you’re brilliant.”

She beamed and took a small device from her bag, holding it up. It looked like a small folding knife, but sliding a button on the side extended a blue blade that sparks seemed to dance through. “I thought it might be useful for cutting the caterpillars bone spikes.”

“Think you can make one for each of us? I can think of a lot of situations where that would have been very useful.”

“Not a problem. I can start working on it tomorrow.” 

A distant rumbling sound drifted through the air, getting louder as Gwen noted that it wasn’t coming from her platform and Owen saying it wasn’t from his either. The lights of an older model of train came into view.

“It’s here. Platform three.” Jack announced. 

The doors of the train opened as the shutters over the stations entrance and exits closed. No one wanted to be dealing with this thing going at eighty miles per hour. The outside of the creatures carapace could slow a bullet enough to make sure the caterpillar didn’t die. It had to be attacked from the inside. They also didn’t know where its brain was located as it could be somewhere very different than its butterfly counterpart. 

From the inside it could be mistaken for a normal train but it was too quiet, even late at night. Jack ran his hand over the top of one of the seats, feeling the soft fuzz of the ‘fabric’. It was warm, as if someone had just moved. 

“I’m going to see if I can get in to the drivers cabin. Go and help Owen with any survivors.”

“Be careful. We don’t know what kind of defences this one has.” Tosh said before heading towards the cars further back. 

As Jack reached the front of the first car the caterpillar began to move, edging forwards towards the shutters, agitated. The windows tinted themselves to black and the doors closed themselves. He pulled on the handle of the door to the drivers cabin and found the room empty. Of course it couldn’t be so easy as to find the things brain in its head. From under the controls something moved and chittered. A basketball sized insect crawled from underneath one of the unused seats, followed by another and another. They rose into the air, moving their stingers and chittering aggressively.

Owen had to convince Terry that he wasn’t going to die. The truth was that Owen couldn’t be completely sure but he was going to give it a damn good try.

“Ianto, I’ll hold his head still, I need you to start cutting the seat away.”

Ianto, as dutiful as ever, immediately took out a blade and ran it across the seam of the head rest. Sickly, yellow, blood oozed from the cut in the seat as the muscle groups around the bone spike were exposed. The lights overhead flickered and changed into a deep, pulsating, red. Owen ignored it for now. He had to keep Terry calm and that meant he couldn’t show a single sign that anything was wrong. 

“Ianto, concentrate. You need to cut everything from around the bone so it can’t be pulled back.”

Though momentarily distracted Ianto returned to his task, carefully shaving away the muscles and tendons from the bone. The flesh inside the seat twitched and writhed. Tosh came through the door at the far end of the car, confused about the change of lighting. She hurried past most of the seats, carefully moving around Owen.

“Jack’s gone to the drivers cabin.” She said, looking over at the mass of meat that was the headrest of the seat. 

Owen looked up for a moment. “We need to get through the bone but you can’t move it around too much.”

“Is that even possible?” Asked Ianto, knowing the blade he had was not made for cutting through bone. Tosh held out the psychic blade.

“Try using this.” The blue sparks faded out and were replaced by bright silver waves running from the cutting edge as he took the handle. “It should cut through without any resistance.”

The blade slid through the bone as if it were a hologram. 

“Right, we need to get him onto the platform and get a couple of paramedics to take over. Tosh, can you get the doors open? Ianto, this is going to be awkward but we’ve got to lift him without moving his head too much.” 

Ianto handed the blade back to Tosh, who moved to the doors and cut around the edges. The metal fell away and clanged onto the platform, showing a thin sliver of flesh inside, and she kicked them out of the way. They weren’t heavy. Owen and Ianto awkwardly manoeuvred the paralysed man out of the train and onto the platform, laying him down on the ground carefully. The sound of gunfire rang from both ends of the train, echoing over the platform. 

Gwen ducked as one of the wasperflies flew towards her face, exploding in the air as a bullet hit it right in the centre. They’d crawled up and out of the second drivers cabin, immediately attacking. Gwen and Elise were making their way towards the next car to try and shut the swarm into the last car. The insects were not making it easy and Elise pushed Gwen ahead, using her metal arm like a shield against the rain of stingers. She swatted one out of the air as she backed through the door and Gwen slammed it shut. 

“When did those get here?!” Gwen exclaimed, hoping there weren’t more already in the next car. The large insects thudded dully against the door, still trying to attack. “We should regroup.”

A weakened male voice came from under one of the table booths. “Help… Me.” 

Elise looked down to see Ryan, staring up at her.

“Woah. How did you get under here?” She asked, helping to pull him out from the confined space. 

He barely had any strength left in him to help himself as he was dragged from his hiding place. “There was something in my head… It came loose when the train jolted… After a while I could move again.”

Gwen could feel the dried blood that had soaked the back of his coat as she looped her arm around him to help. She didn’t want to see if he still had a hole in the back of his head. They clumsily made their way to the closest set of doors that did not want to open. 

“Can you hold him?” Elise asked, letting go as Gwen nodded. She jammed her metal fingers between the doors, hearing them groan as they resisted. In the space she’d made she pushed in the fingers of her other hand and roared as she wrenched them open. 

“Holy shit.” Gasped Ryan as Gwen pulled him under Elises arm and out onto the platform where there were two others laid out on the ground. Tosh was calling in paramedics and explaining that there had been an incident on the train but not clarifying what that incident was, only that there were people with extreme head injuries. 

“There are more people alive inside. We still haven’t seen Jack.” Tosh said, pointing to the cut gap in the side of the train. 

Gwen placed Ryan down carefully then turned to Elise. “I’m going to help get those people out. You find Jack.”


	2. A light goes out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the train is easier said than done.

Jack winced as a stinger caught his arm. A flash of burning pain was replaced by a frostbite like numbness that spread from the sting and rendered his arm useless. A shot took out the wasperfly that was readying another attack. He glanced back to see Elise.

“Need a hand?”

“Yea.” He nodded, swatting down another one with his still working arm. She grabbed the back of his coat and concentrated, teleporting them both just beyond the closed door. The inside of the car had started to warp. The walls began to pulse and undulate. 

“Its brain wasn’t in the front of the train.” He said, holding his dead arm. 

Elise noted. “It wasn’t in the back either.”

“Then it has to be in here somewhere. This is the last survivor then we can just destroy this thing from the inside out.” Said Owen, moving the young woman who was alive but unconscious. He could carry her on his own and headed right to the door, not wanting to be on there any longer than he had to be. 

The train jolted, throwing Gwen out of the door and the others to the floor of the train. The cut open door closed suddenly with a sheet of flesh. Each of the walls began to close in.

“Where’s the blade? We can cut our way out!” Ianto said, looking around for where it had been dropped as he fell. They all scrambled to find it. Elise reached out for the handle of it as she heard an awful crunch. A set of bones that looked like ribs had stabbed downwards, impaling Jack. She turned to Ianto but found he too was pinned by the thin white bone. 

“No!” She cried, slicing through the bones viciously. 

Ianto gasped for breath, coughing blood as his right lung slowly filled with blood. 

“Come on. We’ll get you out and Owen can get you fixed up.” She said, holding Iantos shaking hand. She didn’t know why time hadn’t shifted back yet. That was what it was for. 

“Get Jack out.” He wheezed.

“I can save him after.”

“It’s… Over…”

“No. You can’t give up. I can teleport you out and you’ll be fine.” She felt his hand loosen, blood dripping from his mouth. Biting her lip so hard she could taste blood she turned and grabbed Jacks hand, teleporting him out to the platform. She threw the bones aside and teleported back inside. Her best friend was dead but she wasn’t going to leave him like that. She wrenched out the bone from his back and cradled his body.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why my time travel has stopped working. It won’t let me fix this.” 

The car continued to close in but she didn’t want everyone to see Ianto like this. She clutched the blades handle in her hand and, feeling it connect, she remembered how she had created the wave with the scythe and recreated it, slicing the caterpillar clean in half. The heat cooking the other insects before they could escape. For a moment all she could hear was grinding metal before a gasp from her lap pulled her attention. Ianto stared up at her, confused and disorientated. He placed a shaking hand on his shirt where the bone had pierced him. The fabric was torn and stained with blood but his skin showed no sign of damage. Elise blinked away tears and smiled. 

“How?” She breathed.

“I don’t… How did…?” 

“I don’t know. And I don’t care.” She laughed, pulling him up into a hug as the creature split open and cold air rushed in. 

Jack, back up and breathing, climbed over, his face lit up as he saw that Ianto was ok. He pulled the man up and held him.

“I thought you were… You’re ok.” He laughed into Iantos shoulder, happiness and relief washing over him. 

Owen stood back as the last ambulance drove away, taking the result as a win. He turned to see Elise and Ianto standing, talking conspiratorially behind a pillar. She looked at him and waved him over.

“I would have thought you’d want to go home.” Owen said, a little confused. 

“Owen, I need you to listen and what we say stays right here and now, ok?” Elise looked shaken and Ianto didn’t want to look him in the eye. 

Every time Owen had felt a relationship fell apart it started like this and it made his blood run cold. “What?” He clenched his fists.

“When we were in the train… Jack wasn’t the only one that got impaled.”

An odd mix of relief and worry shot through him. “Wait. Who?”

Ianto pulled back his jacket to show the huge stain and the tear in the front of his shirt in the dim light. 

“Shit! How are you-”

“I died Owen. I was dead and then I wasn’t.” Ianto said through a clenched jaw. 

Owen shook his head, frowning deeply. “That’s not possible. If you two are taking the piss it’s not funny.”

“No! It’s not bloody funny. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be alive than dead but… What the hell’s going on?” Ianto gritted his teeth, pulling his jacket closed to fend off the cold. 

“Let’s just get back to the hub. I can say you hit your head and I want to make sure you haven’t got a concussion. Eli can you keep Jack busy and out of the way?”

Elise nodded. “I’ll help him take apart the caterpillar. It’ll start rotting if we leave it there.”

Jack looked back at Elise as she returned to the platform alone, raising an eyebrow.

“Ianto hit his head pretty hard in the train so Owen’s taken him back to the hub to make sure he didn’t damage anything.” She stated, sitting down on the edge of the platform. “Looks like it’s going well.”

The inside of the caterpillar had already started to break down and collapse in upon itself. 

“That depends on if you have a pressure washer with you.” He smirked, having no idea how they were going to dispose of the half metal, half mush, monstrosity. 

Tosh placed a box on the platform containing a few of the dead wasperflies for study. “How did you project a blade that large? I can barely project anything the size of a kitchen knife.”

“That’s because you’re adorable and don’t have a single malicious thought in your head.” Eli beamed.

“I’m not that naive and innocent you know.”

Jack chuckled to himself.

“I’m not!”

Elise stood and took Toshikos hands. “Face it sweet pea, you’re a sun beam on a chilly day and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I can still teach you how to split a train in half with it.”

“I’m still not that innocent and you know it.” Tosh tapped on a slight ring of redness around Elises neck, making her blush bright red. “Anyway, have we worked out what we’re going to do about the train?”

“Not yet.” Laughed Jack, not entirely sure what had gotten Elise so flustered as he hadn’t been watching that closely, but finding it very entertaining. 

Ianto sat on the table nervously, trying to work out what could possibly have happened, holding his finger over the pad to catch the last drops from the blood test. Nothing made sense. It wasn’t as if Jacks immortality could be passed on. That wasn’t how it worked, at least as far as they knew. Owen lent back against the counter.

“Well, you’re in perfect health.” The doctor stated, arms crossed. 

“Isn’t that good?”

“Yea, but after everything you just did you should at least have a few bruises and scratches but there’s nothing. Are you even tired?”

“No… Is there anything left from the process? I mean if it is the same as Jack.”

Owen shook his head. “You know we can’t measure anything about how Jack revives. I don’t think it was him who did this, accidentally or otherwise.”

“What? Why?” He pulled down his sleeve and stood.

“Simple, if he had that kind of power he would have used it before. That and you’re not the only one who hasn’t been sleeping.”

“You think that’s linked?”

“Jack doesn’t sleep much either does he? And if you’re anything like we are then this sleep change happened just after running into that dying tardis.”

“We can’t exactly test it, can we?”

“No… Listen… How about we just pretend it isn’t a thing. We live like we did before this idea even came up. If the worst happens then we’ll know for certain, but until then-”

“Owen, I can’t live my life like that. Let’s just tell Jack.”

“What’s that going to help?”

“What’s it going to harm? Maybe this is temporary.”

Owen slumped into a chair, running his hands over his face. “Yea… Maybe... I should take the SUV back and you should get changed. Jack’s going to start asking questions right off if he sees your shirt like that.”

Lunch time the next day, Owen called a meeting. A rarity in itself. Gwen looked over at Jack for some explanation but he just shrugged in reply. Even Tosh looked a bit bewildered by the whole thing and Owen usually told her about anything to do with work. The young doctor looked like he hadn’t slept and it was actually affecting him. He was wearing his glasses for one thing so he didn’t have to squint through tired eyes at the screen in his hand. Where should he even begin? 

“Right. Last night something happened on that train that I can’t explain. Or more, I know what happened but I don’t know how. Jack, whenever you come back from the dead there’s a minute amount of time radiation left over. When you came back from being impaled there was more than one time radiation spike.”

Jack looked around. “I didn’t notice anything -”

“That’s because the second one was inside the train.”

He looked to Elise who shook her head.

“You weren’t the only one impaled. Ianto was as well.”

“What? But that’s not possible. Ianto, what is this about?” 

Ianto took a deep breath. “It’s true. I have proof if you need it.”

Jack was speechless, partially waiting for the punchline and partially feeling the blood drain from his face. 

“It gets worse. I think the change in circadian rhythm was an early sign and Ianto isn’t the only one who’s been going through that.” Owen continued. Elise took Toshikos hand as it was the first she had heard about it too. 

“How?” 

“I think it was something to do with the dying tardis. Elise tried to time jump back when she was on the train but it didn’t work. Most likely because she can only perform time jumps like that when strictly necessary and whatever judges these things realised it wouldn’t be necessary.”

Jack lent his elbows on the table and held his head, letting all of this sink in. “Run through what happened with the tardis after its first radiation spike.” 

“Well,” Elise began, “I ran over and found Tosh, Owen and Ianto dead. I couldn’t time jump and I was freaking out so I went to find you. You were in the tardis and you wouldn’t wake up… Then the tardis spoke to me. Said it was sorry. I…”

“You what?”

She swallowed hard. “I begged her to reverse it or let me time jump… She said she didn’t have the power to do that and get away from the Earth before going critical… I said if she brought you all back I could maybe send her through the rift to the centre of a star… Then I woke up here.”

“So you did this to them?” He growled, not looking up from the table. 

Ianto moved to intercept Jacks fear induced fury. “It’s not her fault. Bargaining is a human reaction. You know that. This is no ones fault.”

“I didn’t mean to. I was scared and-” Elise said, her voice faltering slightly. 

Jack stood and stormed out without another word. Ianto gathered his resolve and followed, hoping he could talk Jack down. 

“Jack wait!”

The captain stopped but didn’t turn back.

“Just talk to me. I know you’re scared but-”

“Ianto, you couldn’t possibly understand what this means. What’s been done to you.”

“Then tell me.”

He spun around, barely holding himself together. “Forever is a long time. All the people you’ll lose. The pain of being dragged back. It’s enough to drive you mad and… I don’t know how to fix this.”

“But I’m not going to lose you. I know what losing people is like. I’ve had my whole world torn away more than once but as long as I’m not alone… As long as I can face forever with you… Then I can cope. I can accept that.” He took Jacks hand, looking into his eyes. “And if nothing else, you don’t have to face forever alone anymore.”

“I can’t make you do that.” 

“You’re not. This is my decision. Even if we find a way to reverse this I’m going to stay.”

Jack clenched his jaw, looking into his lovers eyes that held no fear, tears falling freely down his face. He pulled Ianto into a tight embrace, just for a moment letting himself appreciate that he could possibly be getting everything he could ever want. One less spectre haunting his every thought. Just once he might not be left behind. Just once he wouldn’t have to tidy away someones whole life as if they never existed and force himself to move on because there was no other option. Just once. It was selfish, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. 

“So… You two are immortal?” Asked Gwen, breaking a long silence. 

Owen nodded and slumped down in his chair. “In theory. I don’t fancy testing it.”

“Are you both going to be ok?”

“Kind of takes away the fear of death but I don’t know how I’m going to feel about it when I’m not exhausted. Tosh?”

“Um…” Tosh began. “It’s a shock but I’m not upset. It’s not as if I have much family to see leave.”

“Same.”

“And it means I can keep going with all of my research without worrying that I’ll never complete it. It’s not as if we’ll be stuck alone.”

Gwen smiled softly. “You’re taking this really well. And it might be reversible at some point. We just need to find out how.”

“Exactly. If it can be done it can be reversed. If we want to of course.”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t know. Jack sees it as a horrible thing but that’s because he was alone. As long as we have each other, it might not be so bad. Think of all the people we could help with the extra time.”

“You won’t have to worry about ageing at all anymore.”

Tosh laughed lightly. “True.”

“So, what now?”

Owen sighed and stood. “Personally, I’m going to take a nap. If you need me I’ll be on the sofa, so don’t need me.” 

“For now I have more blades to make so I’m going to get on that. There’s no point in just sitting here.” Tosh smiled before heading out after Owen. 

Gwen turned to Elise who had been silent the whole time. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. I mean nothing’s happened to me, right?” She didn’t look up but she gave a small smile, forcing herself to at least look ok.

“Still. You know Ianto was right, don’t you? This isn’t your fault.”

“I know my powers don’t go that far. I’ll be ok.” She stood. “Ianto shouldn’t have to go and get lunch today. When he gets back just tell him that I’ve gone to get food.”

“Elise?”

“I won’t be long. I know what everyone has. Is there anything extra you’d like?”

“No but-”

“Ok. Back soon.” She hurried out, holding herself together surprisingly well. Her years of holding back her feelings while behind a counter coming in handy. Gwen stood to follow but Elise was surprisingly fast and didn’t even stop to grab her coat. 

After a while Jack reappeared, completely calm and surprised to see that his staff had just gone back to their usual duties. Ianto nudged him in the arm.

“I’m sorry about how I lashed out back there.” Jack announced. 

Owen gave a thumbs up from the sofa before rolling over to go back to sleep. 

Tosh gave a sympathetic smile and said, “It’s ok. We understand. Are you alright now?”

“Yea. I am.”

Gwen smiled but something was off about it, like her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Elise’s gone out to get lunch. She said Ianto shouldn’t have to with everything.”

Tosh leaned to see past her monitor. “She did? She didn’t even take her coat.”

“She rushed out pretty quickly.”

Ianto frowned deeply. “I’ll see if I can catch up with her.” 

“No, I’ll go.” Jack placed a hand on Iantos shoulder to stop him. 

Elise couldn’t believe how pathetic she was being. It was the middle of the day and she was hiding in an alleyway to cry. She had no right to be crying but guilt had taken hold in her chest. Not only had she stolen Jacks one chance at a peaceful death but she’d cursed the people she loved the most to the same fate. How could she go back? How could she even think of going home? For as well as they were taking it she knew that they’d eventually come to resent her. What could she possibly do now. 

A figure appeared at the end of the alleyway, tall and looming. She tried to hide her tears and hoped this person would just pass by and leave her alone. They slowly approached.

“He was right, you know. You did this to them.” The figure said, with a voice like nails being dragged down a chalkboard. 

She looked up and found her voice had left her. Toxic green eyes stared into her from under a dark hood.

“But that was your plan wasn’t it?”

“Wh-... What?” She whimpered.

“You wanted to make sure they wouldn’t need you. You made yourself obsolete. They don’t need you to save them anymore.”

“That’s not true! That’s not-”

“But it is. You wanted to know if they loved you or kept you around because of what you can do. So you did the most cruel thing you could think of.”

“No!... Who are you?... How do you know any of this?” 

“Does it matter? It’s not as if you plan to go back.”

“That’s not true! I just needed some air and space.”

“You’re a coward, you don’t have the gall to go back. You should make yourself disappear. Just throw yourself into the rift where you belong.”

She covered her ears with shaking hands and tried to close her eyes. This thing was in her head and she needed to get it out. It grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the wall behind her, the rough brick biting into her skin. Its skin was hidden under leather gloves but she could feel multi jointed fingers. She held her breath as it leaned close to her face, its features, bar its eyes, perpetually in shadow. Its breath smelled like cordite and it felt hot against her skin. She kicked out against the being, refusing to go down without a fight, even in her distressed state. 

“Let me take this shell of a body and you can be free.” It hissed into her ear.

“No!.. What are you?”

“Me?” It laughed. “Why don’t you ask your dear lucifuge. They know. They don’t care enough to warn you of my presence. Not even they can stand your existence.”

There was nothing she could do, she was pinned and she couldn’t even fully cry out. Not that anyone on the street could do anything. 

“Let her go!” Roared a familiar voice. 

The hooded figure turned to look at Jack who was completely ready to shoot it in the head if it didn’t do exactly as he said. It smiled and faded into dust, dropping Elise to the floor. Jack knelt at her side.

“Are you ok? Did it hurt you?” He asked.

She shook her head. “No… It was in my head… I… I’m sorry.”

“Come on.” He helped her to her feet. “I think we need to talk.”

Jack placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her and sat in the chair across from her. 

“Thanks.” She said softly.

“I’m sorry for lashing out at you earlier. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It is my fault.”

“No. It’s not. You couldn’t have done something like that and no one blames you for any of this.”

“I do. That thing was right. I made myself obsolete and when they start to hate me I can just be thrown away.” 

He reached out and held her hand. “They won’t hate you and you’re not an object to just be thrown away.”

“I’m less and less sure about that day by day. I’m trying to keep myself grounded but… I was never good at holding myself together. I’m a coward. I always have been.”

“A coward wouldn’t still be alive in this job.”

“I should just-”

He squeezed her hand softly. “Listen, whatever that was, it got into your head and it’s pulled up every intrusive thought you have. That isn’t you. It’s not who you are... What did it want?”

“It wanted to use my body as a shell.”

“All the more reason it wanted to break you down. Did it say who or what it was?”

“It said Rofocale would know but contacting them is risky at best.” 

“Just don’t go off on your own for a while.” 

She sipped her drink, feeling the warmth spread through her cold body. “Is Ianto ok?”

“He’s handling it better than I am.” He smiled warmly. “But that’s Ianto. He’s so much stronger than he thinks he is.”

“You really do love him, don’t you.”

Jack didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. His face said everything that needed saying. 

“So… How did you know where I’d be?”

“You always take the same route and whatever that was drained all the heat from the area. It was like walking into a freezer.”

“I didn’t notice. That things breath was like a furnace. It smelled of cordite.”

“That’s like nothing I’ve ever run in to before. Feeling a bit better?”

She took another sip of her drink. “A little. My wrist is a bit sore but that’ll go.”

“I didn’t mean physically.”

“I know… I’m not sure this guilt will ever go but… I’ve coped with this kind of thing before, so… I’ll be ok.”

“I wish I could convince you it wasn’t your fault but, like most things, that’s something you have to realise for yourself. I should have stepped in a long time ago but you know you’re not just here because of your powers, don’t you?”

“Stepped in?”

“I could see it happening the first time we spoke. It wasn’t fair of future Owen to use you to fix things.”

“That was my decision.”

“One you made with no other alternative and a rush of new ideas. I’ve been there. You think you’re the one in control. That you chose to go on this adventure. It’s only afterwards you realise you were dragged along for the ride and you have to be left behind with the consequences. It wasn’t intentional, but that doesn’t change the aftermath. They always think they’re doing the right thing and you just can’t be angry at them for it because you know you’d do it all over again if you were in the same place. I should have done something before you got into your head that you’re just a means to an end.” He ran his thumb over the scar on the back of her hand.

“He never made me feel that way.”

“No. They make you feel important. Like you’re special, chosen, but it’s not healthy. It makes you want to throw yourself into danger no matter what it could do to you, no matter how scared you are. It makes you think that their way is the only way. Even when they’re gone, part of you never lets that go.” He gave a bitter smile. “And if you do see them again you realise they can’t look you in the eye without seeing something that shouldn’t exist. Something they turned you in to. To them, you’re just a regret. Collateral damage in a bigger plan. The only thing you can do is find people who love you for who you are and not what you can do. You find your own purpose and try not to fall back into bad habits.”

“Jack.”

“When I say I understand, I mean it. And those two really do love you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Owen as happy as he is around you and Tosh. And the way Tosh looks at you when you’re working, she’s just so proud. She looks at you with this wonder in her eyes that’s hard not to smile at. They’re even happy around each other. That tension is gone.”

“Damn it you’re making me cry again.” She laughed, wiping her eyes with her napkin. 

“It’s true. I didn’t meet either of them before their lives fell apart, but I get the feeling they’re getting back to who they were before. You deserve to be happy too.”

“You too.”

“I am.” 


End file.
